Although these tunes were originally published by Brahms in the 1860’s for piano four hands, it is interesting to note that most of these dances were not true Hungarian folk music, nor were they even original tunes by Brahms. Instead, they are mostly popular salon and coffeehouse tunes written in the style of Hungarian Gypsy music. Brahms’s version of these tunes certainly elevated their status, and increased the fame of the composer as they became some of his most famous works; he later arranged many of the more popular dances for both solo piano and symphonic orchestra. Despite all this, both dances featured on this program do make use of real gypsy musical characteristics, with erratic stop/starts and wildly varying tempi throughout the work.

Written in 1830 to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the Augsburg Confession (and the resulting protestant reformation), this work was actually completed before Mendelssohn’s 3rd and 4th Symphonies. The composer was so disappointed with this work that he refused to have it published during his lifetime. Thankfully, he did not destroy the masterpiece and it was able to be published posthumously (earning the erroneous numerical designation of “5th Symphony”). The title of the work is derived not only from the original dedication, but also from the final movement which is based on Martin Luther’s famous Chorale “Ein Feste Burg ist Unser Gott”). 

Some of the highest grossing movies of all time, the Jurassic Park franchise created a vivid, fascinating, and sometimes frightening world from Michael Crichton’s groundbreaking 1990 novel. The fervor over the original installment in the story (1993’s Jurassic Park) reached a climax when the newest NBA expansion in Toronto announced that fans had chosen the name “Raptors” for their new team. 

Great filmmaking is paired with great music in this story, and the themes from Jurassic Park are often thought of as some of composer John Williams’ best work. They are simple but engaging, and have a noble sound that so aptly paints a musical portrait of the gigantic stars of the story.  

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